Free My Soul

Freedom in Christ. The women in this photo are free to worship their Lord without fear of being judged by anyone. All of the women in this place love the Lord. March of 2007 I was right behind these ladies lifting their hands in praise of the Savior. Watching them encouraged me and lifted my soul as I observed their witness.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to join my friends at another gathering of the Women of Faith, a conference held each year in major cities across the nation. Filled with women from all flavors of Christian faith, the air in the coliseum was charged with the electrifying energy of thousands of Christian women singing praises to their Lord. Singing never felt so good and lifting my hands to the Lord never felt so right. My soul was soaring. Several speakers, comedians, singers, and dramatist used their God given talents to spread the news that we are saved by grace and that God's infinite mercy was worth our rejoicing. Praise the Lord!!

Not all worship assemblies can be as electrically charged as the ones my friends and I got to experience. Oh, but wouldn't it be marvelous to experience the freedom to worship...REALLY worship in our home assemblies? Free from all fear of others who won't understand? Free from those that would judge our motives behind our actions? As the song says, "There's a stirring deep within me...I will rise up, rise up and lay my crown at His wounded feet." I want to be able to sing that song with all my heart and soul with my hand lifted high to the Lord. But not in the place where people don't understand. Not there because not only would some not understand, but others would feel compelled to tell us to stop. It discourages me and saddens my soul when that happens.

I begin to feel as though the rules are chains wrapped around me locking in that which longs to be free. The air in that place is heavy as it bears down on my chest and my soul cry out for mercy. I long for a fresh breath of air to come into that space where it can rejuvenate tired souls and we can breath in the springlike grace of God's spirit. Jesus has set us free to joyfully praise his name!

Lord, Give us the freedom and boldness to dive into a meaningful place within our hearts and souls to be with you. A place where we worship your name and where there are no rules to do that which we are lead to do. Lord there is strength in your name. It is in that name that we petition you to walk with us along our way and give us the strength to live for you. It is in the name of your son Jesus that I pray. Amen.

A Lot Happens in 30 Days

The first picture is a shot of our backyard before the hurricane. The other two are after Hurricane Ike hit. Now most of the tree debris is gone. The tree stumps are not, but we hope to get a stump grinder out to take care of that. Stump grinders are in abundance now and we get daily fliers, business cards and visits from various workers asking to do the job.

The only thing we really need back now is our cable, internet and telephone service. We are pretty much back to normal. Which is a lot more than I can say for many families here in Baytown hit much harder by the hurricane. The storm surge ripped through many homes not far from our house. The houses were flooded with water and sewage making all that touched the flood waters worthless. Piles of furniture, appliances and personal belongings sit on the sides of streets as a reminder of the devastation a hurricane can do.

We lost 3 trees in this storm and our house escaped with minimal damages. We were blessed.

Please keep all the others in your prayers that are having to deal with their greater losses and wondering where they will be in another month.

A lot can happen in just one month.